Turning Relief to Pain

A former council chairman of Ogbaru council area and head of Anambra

Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State, Nigeria

State Emergency Management Agency during the Chris Ngige era, Callista Nwachukwu, is at the centre of a syndicate which allegedly diverted relief materials meant for the area

By Okechukwu Obenta , Awka

THE recent revelation that the immediate past Governor Chris Ngige administration in Anambra State diverted the relief materials sent by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to relations of victims of the boat mishap that occurred in Ogbaru council area of the state sometime last year is currently precipitating a major crisis for the incumbent Governor Peter Obi government in the State.

Interview

“We feel very hurt” - Professor Felix Azubuike Uzoka, an indigene of Ogbaru council area of Anambra State What is your reaction to the diversion of relief materials sent to relations of victims of the boat mishap that occurred in your area last year? It is very bad, very unfair and we in Ogbaru feel cheated and insulted by this kind of thing; that relief materials for Ekwulobia were taken there direct and given to the people. Then our own was brought to Awka and shared to people, some went to handicapped children, others to some greedy officials – relief material for families, people who lost relations and loved ones in a mishap! You will expect some sympathy from your own people, we did not get sympathy from the Anambra State. The materials we are talking about are not those bought by Anambra State. It was brought by the Federal NEMA (National Emergency Management Agency), and they came here (in Awka) and shared it. The storekeeper is saying one thing, they signed in their private names. What kind of a thing is that? Is that fair? Is that social equity? We feel very hurt, very very hurt. The State Government owes us a duty to return those relief materials; to go and say sorry to our people. They haven't done so. In addition, they (State Government) owe us their own relief. They are supposed to be the first to come to our aid. They didn't come to our aid, the Federal Government did but they diverted it and used it for something – else-both in terms of emergency situation as well as private distributions. I think that is the most unfair thing to do. I am highly impressed with the conduct of the chairman (of the Assembly Committee on Public Petition and Conflict Resolution as well as the majority leader of the House of Assembly. They didn't run away from asking serious questions. They asked appropriate questions and it seems to me that they will do a fair job. I am very proud of them. How is the condition of some of the relations of those now? They are distraught. You know people lost their parents. And they needed help. Some are still suffering. Some of those women who died were bread winners. You know how it is? Some of the men who died were also bread winners. Government owes them some support. What will be your advise to the other aggrieved members of your area? That they should be patient. We are not into arms carrying and so on. They should be patient as by the grace of God what is due to us as a peaceful people will come to us.

On Tuesday, July, 11, 2006, a delegation of indigenes of the area stormed the State House of Assembly complex in Awka, the State capital, with placards to register their disenchantment over the development.

Led by one of the illustrious sons of the area, Professor Felix Azubuike Uzoka, elder brother of Representative Okwudili Uzoka (Ogbaru Federal Consistuency), the aggrieved Ogbaru indigenes made up of both women and men, including youths and the aged were also at the State Assembly complex to witness the proceedings of the Assembly Committee on Public Petition and Conflict Resolution headed by Echezona Okechi, that has already commenced investigation into the fraud. Some of the placards displayed read, “Children of boat disaster victims want their relief materials,” “ Obialumba-Gbuo Agu , where are our relief materials?”, “Ogbaru is part of Anambra State, why the neglect?”, “Calista Nwachukwu, where are our relief materials?”.

A boat mishap had on August 2, 2005 occurred in the riverine area claming about 40 lives and properties worth millions of naira lost in the unfortunate disaster. The victims were travelling in a wooden boat when the disaster occurred. They were conveying their farm produce to the nearby Onitsha market and had to go by the waterways because of the criminal neglect of the only access road in the area by successive administration in the state.

The Source learnt that it was Uzoka who recently spilled the bins when in a petition to the State House of Assembly he raised alarm that certain relief materials he secured from NEMA for relations of victims of the boat disaster have not gotten to them. And determined to ensure that the fraud was not swept under the carpet, Uzoka, TheSource gathered, also forwarded a similar petition to the State Government, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC); Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Ehindero, DG NEMA, Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Emergency and Disaster Management, Chuma Nzeribe (who according to Uzoka was very instrumental to the approval for the procurement of the relief materials from NEMA); Ogbaru Town Unions leadership and Calista Nwachukwu, deputy chairman of the Anambra State Emergency Management Agency that received delivery of the relief materials.

The items delivered to the Anambra State Government according to Uzoka for distribution to the targeted beneficiaries at Ogbaru included: 300 bags of rice, 300 pieces of wax prints, 300 pieces of nylon mats, 300 pieces of blankets, 300 pieces of plastic buckets, 20 cartons of detergents, 20 cartons of bath soap, 200 pieces of bath towels, 300 pieces of plastic cups, 300 pieces of plastic plates, 300 pieces of spoons as well as “assorted children's clothings”.

“These items were sent to Awka, specifically for onward delivery to the relatives of the victims of the boat disaster”, an apparently aggrieved Uzoka emphasised in the petition he forwarded to the ICPC in respect of the shocking disappearance of the relief materials.

In the petition to the ICPC, Uzoka narrated how he came to know about the disappearance of the items. Hear him: “After several trips to my constituency, to intimate these relatives (of the victims of the boat mishap) of the relief items, I wrote a letter (copy attached), to Mrs Callista Nwachukwu to whose office the items were sent, for an arrangement to transfer the items from Awka to my Local Government for distribution. I was shocked when she sent words through one of my staff who had gone to her office to arrange the transfer that not one single item on the list was available! The items had been diverted to other uses”.

Determined to unravel the fraud, the State Assembly Committee on Public Petition and Conflict Resolution on Tuesday, July 11, invited some top officials of the Ngige administration who appeared before it concerning the fraud. Those that appeared before the committee were Callista Nwachukwu who was the vice chairman of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) during the Ngige administration and a former council chairman in Ogbaru during the Chinwoke Mbadinuju regime, Hyacinth Nweke, a lawyer and Chief of Staff to the ousted Governor Ngige, J.C Okeke, member of the SEMA as well as the Government House Storeman, J.S.C Okafor.

Interestingly, all these government officials confirmed the delivery of the relief materials to the state government but their explanations as to the whereabouts of the items were as unreasonable, just as the reasons they gave for diverting the items were stupid.

Nwachukwu, for instance told the State Assembly Committee that because the items arrived just about the time the religious crisis that engulfed the state earlier this year (February 20-23) during which Moslem elements in the state were attacked because of the earlier killing of Christians in some parts of the North and churches burnt by Moslems who were protesting the cartoon of prophet Mohammed in a Danish media, former Governor Ngige directed that the relief materials brought for the relations of the Ogbaru boat mishap be distributed to the affected Moslem victims, pledging that the State Government would later replace the items so moved. Nwachukwu, however, explained that the governor's directive came while she was in the hospital receiving treatment following injuries she allegedly sustained while running up and down trying to assist those affected in the religious riot. Nwachukwu told the Assembly Committee that while she was in the hospital, the governor constituted a special team made up of his Chief of Staff, Nweke, principal secretary to the Governor, C.J Nwosu as well as Security Adviser to the Governor, Jekwu who handled the distribution of the Ogbaru relief materials to the religious riot victims. Nweke confirmed that Ngige actually gave the directive and explained that the governor took the action so as to solve an urgent matter at hand. Emphasising that Ngige had good intentions when he gave the directive, Nweke said that he even gave approval for the purchase and replacement of all the items so removed shortly before his administration was abruptly terminated by the Appeal Court Enugu which on March 15, 2006 voided his election and returned the incumbent Governor, Peter Obi as the true winner of the governorship election that brought Ngige to office. Nweke rather advised the State Assembly to mount pressure on incumbent Governor Obi to replace the items for the Ogbaru people.

But members of the Assembly Committee investigating the fraud including the majority leader of the Assembly, Humphrey Nsofor, chairman of the committee , Echezona Okechi, Sunday Nwafili, member Representing Ogbaru II consistuency were as furious as the Ogbaru indigenes over the handling of the relief materials. Worse still, none of the government appointees who appeared before the Assembly committee could show any proof that Ngige actually gave the directives they claimed he gave. They claimed that the directive was rather conveyed orally. And that it was the principal secretary, C.J Nwosu that conveyed the governor's directive and authorised the distribution of the relief materials to the victims of the religious riot. Nwachukwu had sensationally claimed that officials of NEMA had arrived the state on the day the religious riot started to supervise the distribution of the relief materials to the Ogbaru people but that they had to hurriedly leave due to the raging religious crisis.

Although Nwachukwu, Nweke and Okeke tried to rationalise why the materials were distributed to the Hausas, it was clear that some of the items went to some officials of the agency. For instance, 20 bags of rice were said to have been supplied to the state Ministry of Women Affairs. But a representative of the ministry who was at the venue of the State Assembly hearing told the committee that the Ministry only received two bags of rice. Also, some of the items which included children's wears, bar soap, plastic buckets, spoons could not be accounted for.

Furthermore, The Source was told that no fewer than 67 trailers laden with relief materials were sent to victims of the Onitsha reprisal attacks. "Even if the ones meant for Ogbaru people were used as an emergency measure, the fact that relief was eventually sent for the Hausas simply meant that the ones belonging to Ogbaru people could have been easily replaced.

Some Ogbaru indigenes who spoke were even more furious about the unfortunate development, particularly because similar gesture sent to the Ekwulobia people over the erosion menace that ravaged the area at about the time the boat mishap occurred were distributed to the victims. So to them, the State Government merely treated them as if they do not rightly belong to the state.

Instructively, the state government under Ngige did not offer the people a single pin as relief after the boat disaster.

Nnamdi Chukwujindu, an indigene of Ogbaru undersored the ill- feeling of his people when he spoke to The Source . “My impression about the whole thing is that it goes to expose the neglect Ogbaru people are facing in the hands of the Anambra State Government. If you look at Ogbaru road, if you go there, you would regret going on that road. Ogbaru people are neglected. And even when people die there and relief materials are brought from Federal Government, such materials are shared among other people. So it is really sad, probably that was why Ogbaru people unanimously opted to join Orashi State when it was being talked about because they feel that they have no protection under the present Anambra State Government. And if this thing (diversion of the relief materials) is not resolved, I think the people will not be confortable belonging to the present Anambra State”.

And for the elder Uzoka, the State Government should not just return the diverted relief materials but in addition, tender apologies to the people of the area. He said that many relations of the victims are still suffering abject poverty.

Infact, the rumour mills are agog with gists that the ‘missing' relief items were sold in the open market and that Callista Nwaibukwu is, allegedly, not unaware of this.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the State Assembly Committee, Okechi has assured Ogbaru people that the state House of Assembly would stop at nothing in making sure that the State Government gave them whatever is due to the people of the area. He particularly pointed out that Governor Peter Obi is not a governor that would allow such injustice to go unredressed. Okechi had earlier expressed doubts that former Governor Ngige could give such directive and vowed that the Assembly would thoroughly investigate the fraud.